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When you picture a pirate, you probably think of Blackbeard or Captain Kidd or Anne Bonny, or some other swashbuckling rogue that you’ve seen in a book, a movie, or a tall tale. However, every one of those infamous pirates has a little-known counterpart whose piracies were more chaotic, more cruel, or just plain weird. Here are some of the worst pirates that you’ve probably never heard of.

Spanish Pirates

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Spain is usually thought of as a victim of 17th-century piracy, as its treasure fleets were harassed by English, Dutch, and French privateers. But there were a few Spanish pirates too. Juan Guartem and Eduardo Blomar teamed up with English buccaneer Bartholomew Sharp to sack the treasure houses of the Spanish Main on the Pacific Coast of Panama. After failing to capture them, Spanish colonial authorities tried the pair in absentia and sentenced them to death. Guards carried out the sentence in the town square by hanging their severed heads in effigy, an impotent gesture.

Spain also lays claim to Jose Gaspar, the “last of the buccaneers.” In the late 1700s, Gaspar deserted the Spanish navy, commandeered his own ship, and used it to prey on shipping near Florida. Legend has it he accumulated a huge treasure on Gasparilla Island and a harem of women stolen from the ships he captured, a tradition still celebrated in Tampa with an annual pirate festival.

In the 16th century, the Spanish pirate Alonzo Bosco allegedly held court from his own private island, Inishbofin, off the coast of Ireland. He reportedly built a castle on it and allied himself with the famous Irish female pirate Grace O’Malley.

Aboriginal Pirates

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John Julian, part Miskito Indian, was another notorious pirate. Julian was born in Nicaragua in 1701. When still a teenager, he went to sea on the infamous pirate Sam Bellamy's ship, the Whydah. Julian and the crew were caught by the Royal Navy a year later and sent to Boston for trial. Julian was sold into slavery instead of being hanged. He escaped slavery in 1733 but was later hanged.

All American

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The New World had its share of homegrown pirates, often with close ties to the communities they preyed upon. John Halsey, a Boston resident, went on to raid shipping in the Indian Ocean after a stint as a British privateer. Halsey and his crew are credited with the capture of two Royal Navy warships before Halsey himself succumbed to fever in Madagascar.

James Ford, of Kentucky, preferred to confine his piracy to domestic waters. Operating out of the Ohio River in the early 1800s, Ford piloted longboats in attacks on barges while simultaneously holding the position of major general and head of the local militia. His secret organization became known as Fords Ferry and was eventually broken up, with Ford himself defeated by vigilantes.

Thomas Baker was one of several captains commissioned by the Confederacy during the American Civil War to prey on Union shipping, some with considerable piracy added to their wartime letters of marque. Baker had just captured a Union ship when he was spotted, hours later, by the USS Perry. He was brought to New York for trial on piracy charges, only for the trial to be aborted after Richmond threatened reprisals on Union POWs.